A new art film series in Delray Beach? Dude!

Caroline Breder-Watts, midday anchor on WLRN and host of “Cinematically Speaking” on Arts Radio Network, has been involved with local film series for more than 20 years. But the Art Cinema at the Crest programming that debuts in Delray Beach on Wednesday is special, she says.

“It’s a community-based film series. That’s what excites me,” says Breder-Watts, who will host pre- and post-film discussions during the series. “They’re not just screening the latest art-house release or the new documentary. … There are certain films that a community would like to see. Some are classics. Some have a special local interest.”

Art Cinema at the Crest, sponsored by the Delray Center for the Arts and running through Aug. 28 in the old Crest Theater, is the brainchild of Brian Ridolfo, an assistant artistic director at the center. It opens with a classic, “Casablanca,” but is notable for its youthful diversity, from last year’s “Anna Karenina” to the comedy “The Big Lebowski” and the acclaimed rock doc “Sound City.” The screenings are in pristine Blu-ray.

On a “Cinematically Speaking” podcast, Ridolfo acknowledges that his goal was to offer “a little bit for everybody.” He’s opening with Bogart and Bergman because he was surprised at how many people he talked to could quote the film, but hadn’t actually seen it. The Coen Brothers’ “The Big Lebowksi” (starring Jeff Bridges, pictured above) is “a new classic,” he says.

The first edition of the series aimed for “a level of comfort … that you’re not going to see something completely strange and off-the-wall, though we hope to get into that, too,” Ridolfo says, laughing.

With a bar and concessions available, and the free-flowing film discussions accompanying each movie, Art Cinema at the Crest may develop into a popular cultural scene in Delray Beach. Organizers are anxious to keep this series going beyond the summer, but attendance will dictate that decision, they say.

ART CINEMA AT THE CRESTScreenings are at 6 and 8:30 p.m. each Wednesday at the Crest Theatre at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., in Delray Beach. Tickets: $8. Cash bar and concessions available. Call 561-243-7922 or go to DelrayCenterForTheArts.org.